The greatest story Ever told

I am about to tell the greatest story EVER told.  This story is the story of London's birth.  I know it's a bit out of chronological order, but, I have never been good at writing things down... and since I started the blog after she was born, I have never written her story down. I always thought it would be cool to read about my own birth.....but my mom never wrote anything down.  I know London will appreciate this story one day....perhaps when she has her first child.  

 

So, here is the greatest story ever told. 

I am going to start our birth story on the day of London's due date.  

The day was Friday, Oct. 21, 2011 and Blake and I were going to see Dr. Kirkman..... to hopefully see if anything had changed and to see if I was any closer to getting our sweet little London here.  When we got to my doctor appointment, Dr. Kirkman gently told me London was stubborn and was still super cozy.  He stripped my membranes and said that I would most likely go into labor sometime this weekend..... So, of course I was banking on that.... As soon as Blake and I got home, we looked up all the natural ways of inducing labor..... here is just a little list of what we did that day:  I ran 2 miles on the SkyView track (wasn't too bad since I ran throughout my whole pregnancy), played 9 holes of golf, took three 45 minute walks, went to the corn maze that night, and other unmentionables.  

The weekend came and went and still NO baby.  So Monday comes, and Blake and I go back into Dr. Kirkman's office.  He checks me and says I am dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced... he said he would start delivering me today if the hospital would take me.  Blake and I quickly agreed (I must mention, I felt sad at the thought of not going into labor on my own).  Unfortunately and fortunately, the hospital couldn't take me and so we made an induction appointment for early Tuesday morning.  Of course we got home and cleaned our house, took a whole lot more walks, and started to get ready for bed when.......WHAM, the first contraction started.  I got in the shower and blow dried my hair and laid down in bed and we discussed our options: 

1.  We could wait it out through the night and just go in when we were scheduled.

2.  We could call the hospital and tell them how far apart my contractions were and see what they recommended.

3.  Just go into the hospital.  

We first decided to go with option #1.  After about 40 minutes of being in pain and trying to sleep, we gave up.  We then decided to go with option #2.  We called the hospital and they were not much help.  They just said to do what we feel was right haha, so option #3 came.  We went to the hospital at about 11:00 P.M .  I was not only grateful that the hospital was full earlier that day, but, I was feeling incredibly blessed that I was able to go into labor on my own.  I know it's weird, but I wanted to experience that.  I knew Heavenly Father had a hand in helping me go in on my own.  I'm pretty sure he knew how important it was for me to experience that.  Anyway, we got to the hospital and checked in.  The nurse checked me and suggested that Blake and I walk around to help get things moving along.  On our walk, we decided to give my parents/blake's parents a call and let them know that we were at the hospital.  Blake and I knew from the get-go that we only wanted it to be us in the room when we delivered.  I know a lot of people want mothers in too.......we just knew we wanted this special moment all to ourselves.  I will never regret it and we will do the same for future babies too.  We walked for about an hour and by this time, I was in some serious contraction pain.  The nurse checked me again and said she would tell the doctor on call to come break my water.  Dr. Hoarsely came in.  I closed my eyes so that I couldn't see the instrument Dr. Hoarsely was going to use to break my water.  Just as he was going in to break my water, I looked down at my belly and felt slightly sad, but excited that our lives would never be the same again.  As soon as he broke my water, it felt so warm and good haha, I know that's gross, but it did.  I watched my belly when he broke my water and it seriously went down like 2.5 inches.  The doctor even commented to me that I had a ton of fluid.  Oh, and of course I had to look at the instrument they used after they broke my water.  About 1 minute after getting my water broken, my contractions went full throttle.  It hurt so bad.  The nurse said that if I wanted an epidural, I could get one now.  I wanted one, but once again, I closed my eyes so that I could not see the needle.  INSTANT RELIEF.  It felt sooooooo good.  I remember looking at Blake and just saying how good I felt.  I immediately fell asleep and so did Blake.  We slept for a couple hours before the nurse came back in and checked me.  I was at a 10!!!!  She then told me that they have first time mothers sit for an hour at a 10.  

So, here I am waiting for our little nugget to come.      

Of course, even though we didn't want others in our room, we still kept our parents informed on each little detail.  The nurse came back in at about 8:45 A.M and said that we were ready to start pushing.  She also said that we would probably have a baby in about a half hour.  I was so excited.  I don't know why, but I was a bit embarrassed to push and so my first couple of pushes were atrocious.   The nurse just laughed and said I was going to have to push a lot harder than that if I wanted London out of me.  From that point on, I pushed with all my might.  I pushed until I thought I was going to faint.  I pushed with all my energy for not only a half hour, not only an hour, not only two hours, but I pushed for 2.5 hours.....must I mention, that by this time my epidural starting to wear out.   I know this is weird also, but I was glad that my epidural wasn't as strong.  It gave me the opportunity to actually feel everything.  Having a contraction with a lazy epidural made me push out of instinct.  Dr. Kirkman had been in a few times to check on me, but this last time he came, I just cried and said I couldn't push anymore.  I was exhausted.  Dr. Kirkman, being the big loveable teddy bear that he is, said we could try pushing for another half hour, or he could try to suction her out with the vacuum.  I know a half hour doesn't seem so bad now, but at the time a half hour seemed like 5 more hours.  I was shaking and crying out of exhaustion.  Blake and I decided that it would be best to get her suctioned out.  Dr. Kirkman carefully cut me so that he could fit the suction/vacuum in me and quickly attached it to London's head.  Dr. Kirkman said, "Give me one really big push." I pushed with all my might and with the help of the vacuum, London's head came out.  Dr. Kirkman grabbed my hands and put them on London's head.  He said, "This is your baby."  I was overcome with emotion.  We waited for a few contractions while Dr. Kirkman had to cut me more in order to get London's shoulders out.  Dr. Kirkman said, "One more push."  I pushed until I thought I was going to die. At 11:24 out came the rest of London.  Love at first sight.  Just looking at her, I knew that I would never love anything more than I loved her at that very moment.  Blake quickly cut the cord and the doctor immediately laid London on my chest while he stitched me up.  Perfect, love, patience, heaven, humility, gratitude, blessed, adore, eternal happiness, and blissfully happy are just a few words to describe my overwhelming emotion at that moment.  Best moment of my entire life.  My heart felt like it was going to explode from my chest for a moment because I had never felt so much love in my entire life. I knew this little 7 lb. 3 oz bundle of joy was sent straight from Heaven and I could feel our Saviors presence in the room with us.  Hands down, the most spiritual experience I have ever had in my entire life.   I must mention, I felt the presence of my mom in the room with us also.  Such a beautiful feeling.  I will never forget the feeling, the smell, and the love I felt for as long as I live.  Tears are just pouring down my face right now as I write about it.  I remember looking up at Blake and seeing tears in his eyes and I knew that he felt it too.  As I was looking at London, I couldn't help but feel that she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire life.  All the pushing, pain, and sweat just melted away as I looked into London's beautiful, innocent, and perfect eyes. 

 

All too soon, the doctor took London so that she could get her weight, head measured, nose suctioned, etc. 

Very quickly, they gave her back to me.  

After about a half hour of just Blake, Bug, and London time, we let my parents in to see her.  I couldn't have been a more proud mom showing off my little miracle. 

After my parents left, we were moved down into another room.  Blake's parents came and were able to watch Blake give his girl her first bath.  So sweet.  This image will forever be engrained in my mind. 

 

All clean.  Snuggling daddy. 

London wouldn't stop crying.  We finally put clothes on her and wrapped her up tightly and immediately, she stopped and fell into a deep sleep for 5 days haha.  Wouldn't open her eyes. 

Both exhausted.

We were only at the hospital for 24 hours before we got to go home.  Here we are ready to go home.  

You have just read the greatest story of my life.  Words cannot even describe this incredible story.  Best day/moment of my life.  My testimony has only grown larger from this memorable experience.  I know without a doubt that bringing a child into the world is what we are sent here to do.  It's a little scary knowing that I am in charge of London's learning, gospel learnings, and growing.  But, it's also an honor that Heavenly Father trusted me enough to take care of my beautiful baby girl.  I cant thank Heavenly Father enough. 

I love you my beautiful London.  I always will.